Special Events

The 18th edition of the Pour House Trivia World Series tied a record as we gathered 114 of the region’s best trivia teams at Hager Hall in Hagerstown, Maryland. Even with an enormous level of trivia talent in the room, the favorite was still the defending champion Dave Martinez School of Management, who had won three of the last five titles and had never finished lower than second place in five World Series appearances. So how did it all go down on Sunday afternoon?

FIRST ROUND:

Our championship began with a three-part question in which each answer ended with either “IF”, “AND”, or “BUT”. We looked at an alternate version of the classic short story “The Three Little Pigs” as well as this recent biographical film:

With most teams cruising out of the gate, the final two questions of the opening round quickly separated the field. First up, this clever vocabulary question:

–> The names of both a Honda car model introduced in 1972 and a 1997 movie starring Mira Sorvino fit this specific distinction. The South American shrub known as a divi-divi is the longest word in the dictionary to fit this specific distinction. What is this distinction?

Since the car model referenced in this question was the Honda Civic, this led to the most common wrong answer of ‘palindromes’. Despite its double-speak nature, the word divi-divi is not a palindrome. Instead, divi-divi, Civic, and “Mimic” (The Mira Sorvino film) are all words which are comprised only of Roman numerals. After just 31% of the field earned points here, we closed the opening stanza with another difficult question, this time in the category of the NFL Playoffs:

–> Though it appeared in three consecutive NFC Championship games earlier this decade, which team has failed to reach the playoffs in each of the last five seasons?

Just under half of our teams gave us the correct response of the San Francisco 49ers, who found success from 2011 to 2013 with quarterbacks Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick. Eight teams recorded a perfect first round score:

Dave Martinez School of Management

Ralf Fines

PC Principals

Cher’s Zombie Army

Smarter Than We Look

Ingenious Bastards

Avocados to Crabs

J. T. Snow School of Babysitting.

SECOND ROUND:

The World Series audio question featured three songs whose titles reference the theatre: “Applause” by Lady Gaga, “The Show Must Go On” by Queen, and “Take a Bow” by Madonna. Just over one-fourth of our teams picked up bonus points with all three correct answers. Next, we took a ride on this unique vehicle:

We continued with the most difficult bonus question of the first half. After most of the field recognized the backstory behind the Vincent Van Gogh Painting “The Starry Night”, only 22% of our teams earned two bonus points by also knowing that it is currently housed in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in New York City. Other second round topics included the TV sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and the recent video games “Super Mario Odyssey” and “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey”. None of our teams recorded a perfect second round score.

HALFTIME:

The clouds rolled in for the World Series halftime page, as our teams were asked to decipher song lyric “word clouds” such as this:

The bottom half of the halftime page dealt with the favorite foods of fictional characters. This halftime page yielded perfect scores to 15% of the field while the overall average landed at 16.5 points. These were your highest scoring teams from the first half of World Series XVIII:

J. T. Snow School of Babysitting: 90

Ralf Fines: 90

Hamster Condiments: 89

Athletic Supporters: 87

Hundo P: 87

THIRD ROUND:

We kicked off the second half with a question in the the Three Clues format, but these first two clues gave us the most difficult bonus question of the entire game:

CLUE 1: Burger King is currently headquartered in this city’s metropolitan area.

CLUE 2: It was officially incorporated in 1896 after Julia Tuttle encouraged a railroad mogul to expand into the area, making it the only major U.S. city to be founded by a woman.

At this point, only 12% of the field earned these hard-fought bonus points by turning in the correct answer of Miami. Next, we discussed the derivation of the phrase “It’s Greek to me” and this religious landmark:

The majority of our teams could identify a description of the Cambodian temple Angkor Wat, but only 17% of the field picked up two bonus points by also knowing that it was NOT a Buddhist temple, but was built to honor the Hindu god Vishnu. We closed the third round with a question regarding these figures from American history:

Why did 19th century politicians always looked so angry in their portraits? J. T. Snow School of Babysitting moved into sole possession of the lead after posting the only perfect score of the third round.

FOURTH ROUND:

The final round of World Series XVIII opened with a relatively easy question regarding boy bands, before moving on to what proved to be the most difficult wagering question of the game:

–> Likely an homage to Donald Trump’s best-selling book, a 1998 collection of Star Wars comics subtitled “The Art of the Deal” focuses on which character, whose likeness appears on the cover?

Just under 30% of our teams responded correctly with Jabba the Hutt. Next we asked the field to identify either one of the two NBA players who have each had their jersey retired by three different teams. Naming Wilt Chamberlain was no problem for most teams, but only 15% of the field earned bonus points by also naming this “Pistol” as the second answer:

After concluding the final round with a three-part qord scramble featuring the titles of Charles Dickens novels, Meet the Press posted the only perfect score of the final round. These were your highest scoring World Series teams heading into the final question:

J. T. Snow School of Babysitting: 162

PC Principals: 155

Dave Martinez School of Management: 154

Dr. Leo Marvin and Associates: 152

Hundo P: 151

FINAL QUESTION (12.3% success rate):

–> There are 16 states in the contiguous U.S. whose capital city is also its most populous city. Which of these states does NOT border any of the other fifteen?

With virtually every team waiting until the last second to turn in a response, the suspense was higher than any previous world Series. As we eliminated the wrong answers one slide at a time, many of our top teams watche their championship hopes slip away. In the end, 17 teams gave us this correct answer:

The most populous city in Iowa is its state capital Des Moines, while each of its six bordering states do not fit the same description. After leading the field for the entire game, J. T. Snow School of Babysitting was one of the 14 teams that answered correctly, hanging on for its second PHT World Series title. Fittingly, our champions were also the only team in the field to answer all 21 wagering questions correctly.

Another championship is in the books! Thank you to all of our loyal teams for another successful season and a highly competitive World Series. We’ll see you back at Hager Hall in June!

Saturday’s playoff games welcomed 132 teams vying for a potential berth in World Series XVIII:

FIRST ROUND:

Our playoff game began with questions concerning Jefferson Davis, the most prolific winners of the NHL’s Hart Trophy, and this bizarre short film:

You read that correctly… The credits of this film include “Evil Dead” collaborators Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, both of whom were about 20 years old at the time. After closing the round with a look at the TV shows created by Aaron Sorkin, we saw nine teams earn a perfect first round score.

SECOND ROUND:

We traveled back to 2004 for the audio question, asking our team to identify the titles of a film, pop song, and TV series which all debuted in that year. Most of our teams recognized the voice of Hilary Swank in “Million Dollar Baby” and the song “Heaven” by Los Lonely Boys, but pinning down the narrator (and leading actress) from this show proved to be a bit more difficult:

Only 14% of our teams earned bonus points on this opening question. Later, we looked at U.S. National Parks as well as the origin stories behind Kermit the Frog and the bobby pin. The final wagering question of the first half proved to be its most difficult:

–> The 13 minutes of animated sequences in this Disney movie were not actually produced by Disney, due to having abandoned traditional animation for computer animation three years earlier. Name this 2007 film which earned three Oscar nominations for Best Original Song.

Only 28% of the field closed the first half with this correct response:

With a noticeable increase in the difficulty level, All Glory to the Hypnotoad posted the only perfect score of the second round.

HALFTIME:

A playoff bonus was in store for our teams, as Saturday’s halftime page was worth a whopping 24 points. We displayed 12 pictures of celebrities appearing in music videos, offering one point each for naming the celebrities and the respective musical acts whose videos were depicted. Eleven teams recorded a perfect score of 24 points, while the overall average reached 18.7 points. These were your highest scoring teams at the end of the first half:

All Glory to the Hypnotoad: 94

High School Prom: 92

Ingenious Bastards: 92

Vitrifiers: 90

Prestige Worldwide: 89

THIRD ROUND:

The second half of Saturday’s playoff game kicked off with a look at the OTHER offices held by John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and John Quincy Adams. Next up, our teams were transported back to middle school math class for this question:

–> The difference between these two numbers is six, while the difference between their squares is 180. What are these two numbers?

The field performed admirably on this head-scratcher, with the majority of our teams arriving at the correct answers of 12 and 18 (whose respective squares are 144 and 324). Other third round topics included the basilisk and the carabiner. We closed the round by the discussing the hit songs from the grunge band Alice in Chains:

Two teams notched a perfect third round score: Unsavories and J.T. Snow School of Babysitting.

FOURTH ROUND:

As we gear up for next month’s Super Bowl, the final round appropriately included this question:

–> Among the NFL’s eight current divisions, which is the only one in which ALL FOUR member teams have won a Super Bowl?

Thanks to the most recent Super Bowl, this question now has an answer, as the Philadelphia Eagles became the fourth and final team from the NFC East to win the Lombardi Trophy. We continued with a look at the work of author Kurt Vonnegut and the striking resemblance between these two actresses:

The final stanza yielded two perfect scores: Meet the Press and Zambookie. Here is your playoff leaderboard after four rounds of play:

Unsavories: 164

J.T. Snow School of Babysitting: 160

Brother of Menelaus: 159

Ingenious Bastards: 155

Tokyo Tentacle Storm: 155

FINAL QUESTION (39.4% success rate):

–> What is the most common college athletic nickname that is NOT used by a team in one of the four major professional sports leagues?

About two-fifths of our teams earned wagering points on this final question with the correct answer of Bulldogs. Congratualtions to George Washington’s Camel, who was the ONLY team to answer all 21 wagering questions correctly during Saturday’s playoff game. Here are your highest overall scores:

J.T. Snow School of Baby Sitting: 168

George Washington’s Camel: 163

Blockheads: 162

Ralf Fines: 160

All Glory to the Hypnotoad: 157

F.U. Darts: 157

Insubordinate and Churlish: 157

Unsavories: 156

Hamster Condiments: 155

FIVE TEAMS TIED WITH 153 POINTS

GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF OUR TEAMS AT WORLD SERIES XVIII AND THANKS FOR ANOTHER GREAT SEASON!

After 16 weeks of summer, the 2018 PHT Summer Fling Championships had finally arrived! Our four simultaneous games welcomed a total of 72 teams for a set of questions that tested every facet of their knowledge:

FIRST ROUND:

Saturday’s game opened with a Triple 50/50 question on rankings and titles, followed by a look at the upcoming return of ABC’s TGIF sitcom programming block. The third question of the opening round tossed our teams a curveball:

–> For your wager, what is the FIRST and LAST name of the man whose 56-game hitting streak is a New York Yankees record?

2-POINT BONUS: What is the FIRST and LAST name of the man whose 34-game hitting streak is a Boston Red Sox record?

It’s out of the ordinary to require both first and last name on any question, but there was a specific reason this requirement was added. Most of our teams knew that Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak is a Yankees record (since it is also the MLB record). But the wording of this question provided a subtle hint which only 22% of our teams were able to decipher. The longest hitting streak in Red Sox history was put together by Joe’s younger brother, Dom DiMaggio:

The first round closed with the most difficult bonus question of the first half:

–> From 1985 to 1987, the three winners of the Tony Award for Best Musical were each based on works penned by 19th century authors. For your wager, name any two of the three authors who wrote those novels.

A few teams may have actually been saved by simply submitting the most famous 19th century authors they could think of, as the answers were Victor Hugo (“Les Miserables”), Charles Dickens (“Drood”), and Mark Twain (“Big River”). While about half of the field named any two of these three authors, only one team (Save the Clock Tower) picked up this elusive two-point bonus, as Save the Clock Tower (Maryland) turned in three correct answers. None of our teams opened the Summer Fling finals with a perfect first round.

SECOND ROUND:

Saturday’s audio question featured three prominent actors who have dabbled in recorded music. We listened to Jennifer Lawrence, Jack Black, and Bruce Willis, with 31% of our teams picking up bonus points by recognizing all three singers. We followed with the most difficult wagering question of the first half:

–> Used in the treatment of sleep apnea, what is the full name of the scientific concept often abbreviated as CPAP?

Only 22% of our teams responded correctly with Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. Later, we drank a little kombucha and remembered this groundbreaking form of transportation:

Even after closing the first half with a relatively easier question concerning the work of Daniel Day-Lewis, the second round did not yield any perfect scores. After two rounds of play, only two teams (Killer Snails and Tokyo Ra) had answered all ten wagering questions correctly.

HALFTIME:

Saturday’s halftime topics included pictures of celebrity endorsers and words formed from the letters in the phrase ‘BUYER BEWARE’. This page yielded 14 perfect scores and an overall average of 18.2 points. Here is your halftime leaderboard:

Arrondissements of Ouagadougou (Maryland): 87

Unsavories (Virginia): 87

Save the Clock Tower (Maryland): 84

Oliver’s Army (Virginia): 84

State Senator McCheese (Frederick): 83

Momentary Lapse of Reason (Frederick): 83

THIRD ROUND:

The second half opened with a Three Clues question concerning former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, which saw just nine teams pick up two bonus points by turning in an early correct answer. We continued with a pair of animal questions (sort of). After asking our teams about the horse coat color known as ‘roan’, we offered up this rather difficult query on the subject of 21st century pop hits:

–> Since 2008, three songs have topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the names of animal species in their titles. For your wager, name any two of these three songs.

Your answers? “Fireflies” by Owl City, “Dark Horse” by Katy Perry, and “Panda” by Desiigner. In what was the most difficult wagering question of the day, only six teams gave us any two of these three correct answers, with none of our teams earning bonus points by naming all three. We closed the round by noting the striking resemblance between a film character and a board game character.

Thanks to the pop music question, none of our teams recorded a perfect third round score.

6-4-2 QUESTION:

6: In 2005, what university became the only school to produce both a #1 overall NFL draft pick and a #1 overall NBA draft pick in the same year?

4: One year prior, coach Urban Meyer led my football team to a perfect 12-0 record, but did NOT win the national championship.

This was certainly one of the most difficult sports questions we have ever asked. Few teams ventured a guess on the six-point clue, while many teams who waited were then thrown off by the four-point clue. Most of us only remember Urban Meyer as the head coach of Ohio State or Florida, but before heading to Gainesville, he spent two years out west:

In 2005, both Andrew Bogut and Alex Smith were drafted first overall out of the University of Utah. Seven teams earned the full six points on this question.

FOURTH ROUND:

After a difficult stretch early in the second half, the final round eased up a bit on our teams, who performed very well with topics such as poetic quotes and this home exercise regime:

The third question of the final round had a profound effect on the standings, as the category of Oscar-Winning Films garnered a lot of popularity as a potential five-point bonus category. We asked our teams to name either one of the two films to have won the Best Picture Oscar with a period in the official title. Only 21% of our teams earned their wager (with most turning in the more popular answer of “Kramer vs. Kramer”) while just four teams snagged two bonus points by also naming the 1940s film “Mrs. Miniver”. We closed with a three-part question loosely related to the catch phrases of Homer Simpson:

1) This is the stock ticker symbol of the company that produces Scotch Tape and Post-It Notes.

2) This exclamation is repeated at the start of “Song 2” by Blur.

3) Slogans found on this product’s website include “Helping imagination take shape for over 50 years!” and “Fun to use, not to eat!”.

Our teams easily swept bonus points with the answers of MMM (representing 3M), “Woo hoo!”, and Play-Doh. Two teams earned perfect final round scores: Dave Martinez School of Management (Maryland) and High School Prom (Virginia). Here is your overall leaderboard after four rounds of play:

Momentary Lapse of Reason (Frederick): 151

Dave Martinez School of Management (Maryland): 150

Oliver’s Army (Virginia): 147

Shakeweight (Frederick): 146

Arrondissements of Ouagadougou (Maryland): 145

SUMMER FLING CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL QUESTION (47.8% success rate):

–> What is the only U.S. state whose ENTIRE northern border is formed by a river?

Just under half of our teams arrived at the correct answer of Kentucky, whose northern border is formed by the Ohio River:

Here is your final overall leaderboard:

Shakeweight (Frederick): 158

Dave Martinez School of Management (Maryland): 158

Oliver’s Army (Virginia): 155

Brother of Menelaus (Virginia): 154

George Washington’s Camel (Virginia): 154

Chers Zombie Army (Frederick): 152

PC Principals (Virginia): 152

Wiseacres (Frederick): 151

How Did I Get Here (Maryland): 151

Killer Snails (Maryland): 150

WINNERS GALLERY:

Sunday afternoon marked the 17th edition of the Pour House Trivia World Series, as 99 teams once again descended upon Hager Hall in Hagerstown, Maryland. Over the last seven years, only five different teams have taken home the coveted trophy (and the $2,000 first place check). Would we see a new champion crowned today? Let’s see how it all went down:

FIRST ROUND:

We wasted no time challenging our teams on Sunday afternoon, as we opened the game with a stiff question about a stiff drink:

–> Heaven’s Door is a new line of liquor co-created by which member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Most of our teams were able to quickly figure out that this brand name was derived from the classic tune “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, but some of our players must not have realized that their favorite version of this song was actually a cover version. Answers for Eric Clapton and Axl Rose poured in, but only about half of our teams earned points by remembering that the song was written and originally recorded by Bob Dylan. The field recovered nicely after a Triple 50/50 question involving Jack Nicklaus and Jack Nicholson. Next up was a visual question regarding British authors:

–> The two British authors seen here passed away on the same day. Unfortunately, both of their deaths were overshadowed by the sudden passing of a politician (also on that same day). Name either one of these authors.

Coincidentally, both of these men passed away on the same day as John F. Kennedy. Just over half of our teams earned wagering points by recognizing Narnia creator C.S. Lewis (right), but only 15% of the field snagged two bonus points by also recognizing “Brave New World” author Aldous Huxley. We closed the opening round with the most difficult wagering question of the first half:

–> Which adjective is used to describe a square grid filled with distinct positive integers in a range such that the sum of each row, column, and diagonal is equal?

Only 26% of the field responded correctly with a Magic square. Seven teams avoided the speed bumps and began their World Series with a perfect first round score.

SECOND ROUND:

Sunday’s audio question featured the category of Name That Year, as we played clips from “Swingtown” by the Steve Miller band, the film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, and “The Love Boat” theme song. The common year among those three titles was 1977, which about a third of our teams knew exactly, earning themselves a two-point bonus. We followed with a question on the mythological figures who are the namesakes for these two moons:

The moons of Mars are respectively named for Phobos and Deimos, the twin sons of the Greek god of war Ares (the counterpart of the Roman god Mars). Later, we looked at geographic entities whose names begin with “NEW”, and this advertising mascot who became the star of a video game:

Though many teams were on the right track to earn a two-point bonus, only 20% of the field scored those points by knowing that this mascot’s full name was Cool Spot. After closing the first half with a question regarding the coaches from the TV series “The Voice”, we saw just three teams earn perfect second round scores: Five Dollar Massage, Arrondissements of Ouagadougou, and Dave Martinez School of Management.

HALFTIME:

Our picture round featured items whose names are derived from the letters in “STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS”, while the bottom half asked our teams to identify people with appropriate last names, such as Usain Bolt and Bernie Madoff, who “made off” with a few billion dollars before being caught. The overall average reached 15.2 points, but only ONE TEAM managed to record a perfect score: Dire Wolves. Here are your top teams at the World Series halftime break:

Dave Martinez School of Management: 89

Killer Snails: 87

Stink Floyd: 85

PC Principals: 85

Arrondissements of Ouagadougou: 85

Sexual Chocolate: 85

THIRD ROUND:

The second half began with a look at the Treaty of Portsmouth, which ended the Russo-Japanese War (and let to Teddy Roosevelt earning a Nobel Peace Prize). We stopped for a quick snack of nori, before asking an intriguing three-part question in the subject of animal misnomers. Most of our teams knew that the Tufted Titmouse is actually a bird and that the Horny Toad is a lizard, but only a handful of teams also knew that the Mountain Chicken is actually a frog:

Why is it called a Mountain Chicken? According to the residents of the Caribbean (where the nickname was derived), it simply tastes like chicken. This proved to be the most difficult bonus question of the day, as Power Vacuum was the only team to give us all three correct animals to earn a two-point bonus. Later, we looked at the work of painter Andrew Wyeth, and concluded with this baseball question:

–> Which Hall of Fame outfielder played for nine different MLB teams before retiring in 2003?

The baseball fans were all over this question, as about 40% of the field knew we were talking about Rickey Henderson. But we included another diabolical bonus question, asking for the National League team with which Rickey finished his career. Rickey played for the Oakland A’s, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, Anaheim Angels, New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, and Boston Red Sox, but only two teams knew that he finished his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Needless to say, the third round did not yield any perfect scores.

FOURTH ROUND:

We took a trip back to the 1980s to begin Sunday’s final round, asking about the Zastava Koral autombile, a compact car better known to Americans as the Yugo:

Next up was a question on U.S. state capitals:

–> Name either one of the two consonants that begin the names of EXACTLY one U.S. state capital each.

Just over half of our teams earned their wager by correctly providing one of two correct responses, with the more popular option for credit being Nashville, Tennessee. The more obscure of the two answers was certainly Frankfort, Kentucky, which led to just 13% of our teams earning bonus points. We closed with a Three Clues question on the word “Ye” and a look at the radioactive isotopes of potassium. Four teams rolled into the final question with a perfect fourth round score: Dave Martinez School of Management, Merciless Peppers of Quetzalacatenango, Tokyo Viennese Oyster, and Fat Kids Are Hard to Kidnap. Here are the top World Series teams after four rounds of play:

Dave Martinez School of Management: 161

Merciless Peppers of Quetzalacatenango: 156

PC Principals: 152

Killer Snails: 150

Stink Floyd: 149

Sexual Chocolate: 148

FINAL QUESTION:

–> Which Oscar-nominated actor is the most recent person to win both an Academy Award for Best Director and a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director?

The most popular wrong answer here was Ben Affleck, who surprisingly has never even been nominated for any of the three award categories mentioned in this question. This question was one of the most difficult final questions we have ever asked, as only 11 teams gave us the correct response of Kevin Costner. He earned his Oscar for directing “Dances With Wolves” and his Razzie for directing “The Postman”. One of the 11 teams who turned in the correct response was Dave Martinez School of Management, who cashed in their third PHT World Series championship. This team has competed with Pour House Trivia for five seasons, and has finished no worse than second place in the World Series. Unbelievable! Not surprisingly, our top two teams were the only ones to answer all 21 wagering questions correctly. Here are some pictures of the SMILEY FACES OF THE TOP 10 and your FINAL STANDINGS from World Series XVII:

Sunday featured 94 teams vying for those last few coveted invitations to World Series XVII. Even with a more difficult set than usual, some of our teams mowed through these questions with ease:

FIRST ROUND:

After a pair of relatively easy questions on current world leaders and the TV series “Grey’s Anatomy”, we offered up this Three Clues question which included two well-earned bonus points:

CLUE 1: This character will be celebrating his 40th anniversary later this month.

CLUE 2: Though it is rarely mentioned in print, this character lives in Muncie, Indiana, the hometown of his creator.

Very few teams even ventured a guess at this point, with just seven teams successfully earning that two-point bonus. Most of the teams waited for the third clue, which stated that this character has been voiced by Lorenzo Music, Bill Murray, and Frank Welker:

After closing with a question on Amelia Earhart, only two of our teams swept the opening round with a perfect score: PC Principals and High School Prom.

SECOND ROUND:

Sunday’s audio clue featured a mix of music, TV, and film, as we played clips featuring Robert Redford in “All the President’s Men”, the Nirvana song “All Apologies”, and Susan Lucci in “All My Children”. Next up, we asked about these freakish advertising characters:

We saved the most difficult wagering question of the first half for the close of the second round:

–> Name any two of the last three winners of the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, each of which featured numbers in its title.

Only 24% iof our teams earned points with at least two of these three correct answers: “24K Magic” by Bruno Mars, “25” by Adele), and “1989” by Taylor Swift. With just nine teams naming all three albums, the second round yielded three perfect scores: PC Principals, Team MAJ, and The Gang Wins the Super Bowl.

HALFTIME:

Sunday’s halftime page featured pictorial representations of U.S. state nicknames, along with a bottom half in which each answer was a two-letter word. With an overall average score of 14.9, we saw six teams earn perfect scores. Here are the highest-scoring playoff teams at the halftime break:

PC Principals: 91

High School Prom: 90

Brother of Menelaus: 87

My Black Hole Just Exploded: 86

Literally Anything: 85

THIRD ROUND:

As usual, the third round was the most difficult round of Sunday’s game, but in this particular case, the difficultly level was well beyond what our teams had experienced so far. First up, a little U.S. history, as we asked our teams to name the year in which these three events occurred:

1) The first U.S. Open tennis tournament is held.

2) Clara Barton establishes the American Red Cross.

3) The infamous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral takes place.

Even with a five-year window in either direction, only 37% of the field answered correctly with 1881. We continued with a blend of Greek Mythology and rock song lyrics, as we discussed the reference to Scylla and Charybdis in the song “Wrapped Around Your Finger”. Even after stumping many of our teams on the topic of the chemical element antimony, a question on TV characters proved to be the most difficult wagering question of the day:

–> In addition to appearing on a prominent NBC franchise, which character also appeared on episodes of “The X-Files”, “30 Rock”, “The Wire”, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, and “Arrested Development”?

Only 19% of our teams earned points with Detective John Munch (as seen here on “30 Rock”):

Not only did the third round NOT yield any perfect scores, but only two teams answered all five wagering questions correctly: Viennese Oyster and Just Good Enough.

FOURTH ROUND:

Sunday’s final round began by asking our teams to name either one of the first two Disney songs to earn an Academy Award. Only 11% of our teams earned bonus points with songs from these two characters:

We skimmed through the Book of Ecclesiastes and enjoyed a Dark ‘N’ Stormy cocktail, while Sanford and Son was the only team to close out the game with a perfect final round score. After four rounds of play, these were your top scores:

PC Principals: 163

High School Prom: 159

Brother of Menelaus: 157

Viennese Oyster: 156

Just Good Enough: 151

SUNDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (69.4% success rate):

–> This term for a large area of land lying at the foot of a mountain has a name which means “foot of the mountain”. For your wager, name this term that shares its name with a region in northwest Italy.

About two-thirds of our teams responded correctly with Piedmont. Congratulations to Just Good Enough, who was the ONLY team to earn the Perfect 21 with correct answers on all wagering questions. Here is the overall leaderboard from Playoff Sunday: